a season of thanksgiving

For me, Thanksgiving has always been a time about food, getting together with loved ones, more food, Black Friday Shopping, food, football and relaxing.  This year, a lot was put into perspective for me.

The night before Thanksgiving, my father suffered a massive heart attack.  A generally very healthy guy, this came as a complete shock.  he was playing basketball with my brothers and started feeling chest pains that just kept getting worse.  living in the remote part of Oregon that my family lives in,  my brothers rushed him to the hospital, but as soon as he got there and they realized how severe it was, they sent him to a hospital more than an hour away that was better able to help.

he had to have an emergency quadruple bypass in the middle of the night.  I was checking my phone every 20 minutes to check for updates from my sister.  I felt very helpless, being so far away.

through the grace of our father in heaven, modern medicine, and talented doctors, the surgery went very very well.  he’s still in the middle of his recovery, but he’s finally home and getting used to the idea that he has to take it easy. 

this experience has reminded me how truly fragile life is, and how we ought to never take our loved ones for granted.  i am so grateful for my parents who have taught me about god and faith and have allowed me to be a part of an eternal family.  I am also so grateful that my father in heaven has allowed me to share more of this life with them. 

seth and I hosted thanksgiving at our house this year – with several of his family members coming to our house for the week.  it was wonderful to see so many of the people we love and share the spirit of thanksgiving with them.

we truly have been so blessed and have so much to be thankful for.  I feel like the Lord has been good to us in ways I could never deserve, so this year, I am grateful for a loving father in heaven who is willing to bless me and my family despite all of my shortcomings and faults.

here’s to hoping Christmas only has the joy – and none of the worry – that came with thanksgiving J

quite a bit late... but enjoy anyway!

before i started my new job, i went up to utah to help wendia with a conference.  and while i was away....

seth decorated for halloween!  ummmm..... how SWEET is he?!?! i just love husby!

through the generosity of MIL's good friend, we added to our collection of halloween decorations.  here is the rogers home at halloween!

how may i brighten your smile today?

so i took a new job.  its in north scottsdale which basically blows it because that is a ridiculous distance from my house.  thankfully, it is all freeway, but after leaving the City of Angels, i hoped the hours of my life wasted in my car commuting to and from the office were over.  *janae sighs an enormous sigh*

however, the job itself seems to be worth it.  i've finished week three here, and it seems super fast paced and fun.  i already went to michigan to host an event and got to stay at this amazingly cool and creepy hotel in grand rapids called the "Amway Grand Hotel."  it was built in 1913 and walking through the lobby or down the hallway made me feel like i was walking into the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

but to the job!

i'm working as the live events manager for a motivational speaker and consultant in the dental field.  we  answer the phones by asking "how may i brighten your smile today" (perfect for a place that works with dentists, right?)  he holds speaking engagements all across the country and im lucky enough to coordinate these events.

we will be hosting events all over the US, as well as mexico and ITALY - jealous, yet?

its not all happy news...

traveling was exciting for the single janae - but the married janae misses husby an awful lot.  so for the trips he can't join me for (which is like 99.9% of them) janae gets very sad and lonely. 

we're excited for yet another adventure though - and i cannot WAIT to take husby to italy :) im saving and taking every vacation day i have to travel around with him afterward.

i.cannot.wait.

a series of unfortunate events

for the last several months, mr. & mrs. rogers have led a pretty charmed life.

mr. got a great job, they bought a puppy and a grown-ups house... it was pretty spectacular.  but then... a series of unfortunate events occurred.

it all started when mrs. tried to leave the house.  while backing out of the driveway, she noticed the good ole Bui - Betsy - was having a hard time backing up.  upon further inspection, it was determined that the brake shoe had locked up.  although the nice serviceman got it to unjam, he explained that for the safety of the mrs... it should probably not be driven until fixed.

this made mr. start looking at new cars.  afterall, in this charmed life, the mrs. was about to get a new fulltime job that would require a long-ish commute.  why not get a new car, with better gas mileage and better reliability?

so he embarked on trying to convince the mrs. of many different cars. the mrs. was unconvinced.  she'd never bought a new car in her life and didnt like the idea.  after visiting several car dealerships in an attempt to get the mrs. on board, the mr. & mrs. went up to a carmax dealership.

without getting into the gorey details... the mrs. and the front door at the carmax dealership had a bit of a misunderstanding - and the front door wrought some serious havoc on the mrs. foot.  the mrs. was immediately bleeding everywhere and the mr. ran to get the car and rushed the mrs. to the hospital.  (i might add here that NO ONE in the carmax dealership came to help her, two people walked right passed her into the dealership without troubling themselves to see if she was okay - and when the mr. went back the NEXT DAY they had yet to clean it up. ew. and i honestly am not talking about a "little accident." it really looked like someone died there).  all this led to 8 stitches and 6 hours in the ER.

(also side note - percocet - effective in making janae giggle - not so effective in making janae pain free. and numbing shots into your toe - worst.pain.ever. apparently excessive pain makes janae forget that she shouldnt curse excessively)

catastrophe.  utter catastrophe. 

now i had to relate this story in the third person because, frankly, it still makes me rather nauseated to think about.

to top it all off, i had to travel to utah the following week to coordinate a conference i've been planning for months before starting a new job.  i was (and continue to) limping around like a lame mule.  i gag every time i talk about it, and of course everyone wants to know what happened to the lame kid's foot.

i still (4 weeks later) have a rather mangled toe, cant wear closed toed shoes and have about a five foot radius around me at all times where i remain keenly aware of the movements of others.

on the bright side, we bought the 2012 hyundai elantra



 (i'm still not totally convinced this wasnt some master plot seth schemed up to get me completely drugged and amenable to his "new car" plan.)


it's the first nice car i've ever owned.  she lacks personality (read problems) and therefore has no name, but she's got lots of cool features and can, therefore, remain nameless as long as she likes.  regardless... i miss the Bui. and an unscarred toe.  AND all my beautiful shoes.  will i ever get to wear you again?


sincerely missing her shoe collection,

- the mrs.

p.s. i am purposefully not including a picture of my damaged toe. it really is rather repulsive and i'd rather not share it with you.

remember that time we bought a house?

welcome to the mr. & mrs. rogers REAL neighborhood!

after going to see about a billion houses, and even engaging in a fierce bidding war on a few...

husby and i have FINALLY triumphed and moved in to our first house!

as we contemplate the growth of our family (hey we already grew by one furry friend! *see last post), we wanted to find something that we could settle down in and be the place where our little nuggets can call 'home'.

and we found it! more than i could have ever dreamed for! 

the front! very "shakespeare's globe" i think!

living room

kitchen, sans our new appliances... will update pic when we have it all in!

entry way - dining area is the room of boxes :)

upstairs - and the pretty french doors that open to the master bedroom

close up of all our crap :) ( i mean the dining room)

hallway down to a bathroom and three bedrooms - someday to be populated by little baby rogers

view from upstairs into the entry way

master bedroom

attached to the master bedroom - soon to be our personal CINEMA ROOM!

hard to get a good shot of our bathroom - but the tile that separates the master from the bathroom is so pretty! i had to share

backyard 1

backyard/sideyard

back of the house

our street/park across the street

my first pet!

the day we got our girl - Winnie!

so seth and i were going miniature golfing a few weeks ago with his family.  seth had been trying to convince me we needed to get a dog and had been vigilant in his efforts.  every night he would scrounge up the cutest pictures of the cutest puppies - but i wasnt fully convinced.  my own parents were not exactly "pet friendly" individuals and didnt really instill in me any desire to have ANY animals - let alone one as needy as a dog.  PLUS - as we looked up prices of dogs... eesh! buying a puppy that is remotely cute can be very pricey.  We'd looked into getting a rescue, but every time we went to the pound, there were only big ones and, let's face it, im a small dog kind of girl.

anyway - back to mini golf.

on our way, we saw a truck bed full of five of the CUTEST puppies i've ever seen.  well... it was RIGHT there... so why not go take a look?

the owners were shih tzu breeders, but during their momma pups "off" cycle, the neighboring jack russell terrier payed her a little visit - resulting in some ADORABLE little puppies.  they told us the puppies would probably get around 10 lbs - the perfect size for us! then, after watching and playing with the puppies, there was one little girlie puppy who was so laid back and sweet - we just had to have her.

needless to say, we took her home and keep falling in love! she's so fun - the best of both her breeds - playful jack russell and baby-faced shih tzu.

We tried out a few names on her, but ultimately, decided on Winnie Rogers! she's got that honey color of Winnie-the-Pooh and we needed our pup to be named after something Disney!

12 weeks old! we gave her a little shave - she did NOT like it at all. but she's growing!

puppy motherhood has really changed my life.  Like how we cant go to dinner AND a movie without coming home to let her out to pee.  preparation for the real thing?  not going to lie - it has me truly terrified.

ITS OFFICIAL!

last week husby accepted a job offer from garmin in arizona. so that means....

WE'RE MOVING!!!

we are so excited for the july 1 move!  its coming soooooo soon.  we sure will miss our apartment, our very first home.

SUCH A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE!!! i love you huntington apartments :)

where we woke one morning to watch the tabernacle burning outside our bedroom window.

where we walked regularly to comedy sportz to enjoy the comedic talents of our favorite, jeff blake.

where the underground garaged parking offered a respite from the cold snowy days and allowed our poor cars to defrost.

doesnt this car look sad because it is cold? our cars were not sad from the cold like this car. they were maybe a little sad, however that they were not this car in age and style. this car is much cooler than them (pun and no pun intended :))

where we got trapped INSIDE our house when the front door knob broke.

this is not a picture of our actual door handle. i dont take pictures of broken door handles. but due to this blog post, i wish i had. however, after a quick google search of "broken front door knob" this EXACT REPLICA of our door handle came up... coincidence?

where our neighbors had a screamo band that practiced at 2 AM.

ive gotten google happy to find pictures that resemble the situations im talking about... but this is definitely how i picture my neighbors while they are practicing screaming(except probably 10-15 years younger as they all look like they are about 12.  not sure how they have an apartment of their own...)

where our OTHER neighbors got into profane and excessively public domestic disputes.

where janae went through her inexplicable and embarrassing crafting phase.

yes. i made these. i was quite proud of them at the time, as our halloween decorations were all nightmare before christmas.  now im a little embarrassed by how much time i spent coming up with how to make them and then actually making them. they are wooden door knobs. they are kind of ugly.

where we celebrated a lot of firsts together, made a ton of good friends, and started our life!

if you're a utahn - come get in your goodbyes quick! we will miss you.
if you're an arizonan - you're so dang lucky you get to see us more! (come help us move our stuff when we get there, wont you???)
if you're a californian - we'll be closer and still have our disneyland season passes - so we can come see you!
if you're an oregonian (or any other state/country we have friends in) - not much will change for you. but come visit us anyway!

excited for new adventures in the desert!

plans change.

remember how we were going to go to law school?  well… as the great robert burns so aptly wrote: “the best laid plans of mice and men [often go awry]."

despite having many things go our way, planning tirelessly, even being admitted to schools we wanted to go to, we’re just not convinced it's a good fit at this time.  we were admitted to Santa Clara – the school we felt would actually be the best academic fit for us, with its focus concentrating on High Tech Intellectual Property law.  only days later, after excitedly planning where we would live, when we would move, seth came to me expressing his doubts about law school being the smartest move for us.

quite honestly, i was rather shocked.  for as long as ive known seth – i thought this is what he wanted to do.  id been so supportive of law school up until this point because the most important thing to me is that seth is doing something he loves.  if this was his dream, of course i was going to be 110% supportive. 

after discussing all the pros and cons – we could find very few pros for attending law school, and a plethora of cons.  additionally, the cons were things that actually got us excited about our future – whereas the pros were based on possibilities, not necessarily actualities – and in and of themselves did not seem very compelling.

for those who know me well, who better to understand seth's decision to reconsider law school than me?  as i heard him working through it, i was reminded so much of my own struggle regarding law school.  i think we can both see that although a fascinating field of study, we may both be better off by knowing we could, and choosing not to. 

after we discussed things, we felt it best to not make any rash decisions and have continued to pursue law school as an option while we labor to determine what is the very best thing for our family.  just the prospect of law school is stressful, whereas this other option fills me with excitement for the future.  i know the future wont be perfect – bringing with it any number of challenges that may change our plans.  but i feel good about this. happy about it. excited. 

it feels to good to be married to someone who has a good head on his shoulders – willing to change his plans, even after putting so much of himself into something (stressing about the LSAT, stressing about the application process, etc.) i am so grateful that he truly is looking out for the best interest of our family and doesn’t want to put us in a stressful position for nothing. 

being able to reevaluate your plans and adapt for the future isnt usually the easiest course of action.  most of the time, its just easier to move forward with a plan, just because its been the plan for so long.  if we arent constantly asking ourselves what is in the best interest for us and our families, i think we may really be missing out on making great things happen.  how many opportunities for growth are missed because we simply want to maintain the status quo?  seth so rightly said, "what is life all about anyway?" i think if we ask ourselves that question more often, we will find more of God in our lives, and be able to rejoice in the many ways we are blessed through His guidance.   

could we really have put all our school years behind us??? stay tuned!

xx

DISNEYLAND!!! (oh and graduation)

so when seth graduated, i wanted to do something fun to celebrate. although he didn’t feel like graduation was a very big deal, janae looooooooves finding things to celebrate, so i planned a trip to our very favorite place: DISNEYLAND!!!

many of you already know that our relationship (or at least the final stages) was a long distance one.  i was in los angeles and he was finishing his computer science degree at BYU.  we only had one weekend a month to spend with each other – which usually meant he came to the city of angels (because utah is not fun.)

having season passes, we spent much of our courting time in the magic kingdom. we sort of joke that at one point in time, half our dates had been to disneyland.  truth be told, that probably 

wasn’t too far from the truth. my first trip to disneyland was only in the summer of 2009, so most of my disney experience has been shared with hubby.   we have a running joke of calling significant places in our relationship “our special place” (thanks to a very funny story told once by my boss in los angeles). the ghetto apartment complex where seth lived when we first met; the domino’s pizza we ate the first time we met; DISNEYLAND. disneyland is our special place.  so, naturally, for Christmas, we bought season passes once again, so the magic wouldn’t end in 2011. 

we spent 4 sun-filled days at disneyland and disney’s california adventure, with momma rogers and family coming to join us on the last day of our trip.  We stayed at a hotel that is suuuuuuuuuuuper cheap.  i didn’t want this trip to count as our REAL vacation (i plan on big vacations – costa rica, hawaii, etc. – disneyland is just a weekend get-away.)  i was a little concerned about how dirty this hotel might be.  i even brought our own sheet, just in case.

Picture of the pool - found online

it wasn’t bad at ALL!  we will seriously stay here any time we go for these weekend trips.  clean (albeit a little old), HUGE swimming pool.  i really felt i had nothing to complain about here.  and it was close to the park, so we went back to the hotel for an afternoon swim or rest (usually both ;)) every day.  it was a good pick. and saved us loads of $$! For what I would guess most people spend on one night a lot of places – we paid for all three nights.  what a deal.

we usually go to disneyland with others (my parents came once, his mom comes with us often) and it was nice to be there together for a change.  BUT. by the third day (when his mom came into town) WE WERE SO BURNT OUT that we were glad some fresh blood had come.  this way, our last day had some renewed vigor and we were our happy little disney-selves :)

all this happened to celebrate seth's graduation, so here are some pictures from that day:

this has to be the cutest picture ever of a graduate.
dont i have the cutest hubby???

seth with his grandfather

seth with his parents 

seth and janae

seth’s parents and grandfather came up from arizona to celebrate with us and be there to see him graduate.  momma rogers went with us to the mall one day and talked us both into buying Keen’s for our disney adventures.  most people who know me know i have a rather strong affinity for shoes and its like pulling teeth to get me into an athletic pair.  i like cute sandals, ultra high stilettos, fun wedges. running shoes are definitely not my thing (i have a hard time spending $100 on a pair of shoes i will ONLY wear to the gym). so uber outdoorsy shoes, like keens are so beyond what i can rationalize myself into buying.  they are not hideous or anything – but i feel like such a dork in them and really out of my element.  anyway – momma rogers is a good convincer (although it probably took her an hour and a few walks around the mall to do it) and seth and i both bought a pair. 

my feet still hurt a lot after 4 days at disney – and i relished the time i spent soaking them in our pool – but all in all – i think they were a good purchase.  and they’ll be fun to have on some of our other adventures to come (like hiking through the rainforest in costa rica!)

see more pictures of our california adventures here, where seth forgets what letter he's supposed to do on  our  my favorite ride ever.

and in particular here, where my artistic abilities are clearly expanding due to disney's animation studios.

LOTS more updates to come.  just wanted to post some of these pix – i hate how bad i am at blogging.

xx

why does facebook think i'm baby hungry?

i was noticing the other day that facebook is like WAY too aware of my life. it knows all my secrets. like that i love cupcakes. it taunts me with side bar ads that say there are delicious cupcakes waiting for me in *my* area. its creepy. and makes me hungry. when i was a single, it was constantly telling me about all the hot singles in my area. when i listed myself as "in a relationship," it suddenly had info on engagement rings. what's with the push facebook? i was just in a relationship. were you trying to get me to itch for a ring? well it worked. i got "engaged" so the engagement rings turned to wedding photographers, flower guides, wedding dresses. now, i've been married for 8 months and all of a sudden, facebook thinks its time for yet another nudge. familyplanning.com and motherhood info keep popping up with baby bumps appearing in all the ads. what's up with that facebook? are you implying my biological clock is ticking and that after only 8 months of marriage, i need to be on the baby train?

you cant trick me facebook. not at least until i can get hubby to buy into all the baby names i love :)

it's oscar's season!!!

Almost better than christmas. For those who know me well, you know I LOVE the Academy Awards. It’s more like an obsession, really. Printing out ballots, drinking classy beverages and preparing way too complicated hors d’oeuvres, dressing up fancy. I can’t get enough of it. My infatuation no doubt stems from my love for film and my desire to dress in pretty things :) Any excuse to watch most of the movies released this year is a good one, right?

However, when casting my own votes for winners, I don’t like to solely predict what the Academy will pick, but rather what (or who) I think should win. I think I do this because no matter how old I get, I still hold on to the delusion that someday the Academy will beg me to be in their allusive group of overly critical-slash-politically-progressive individuals and they will be dying for MY opinion on what SHOULD win – not what necessarily will.

Anyway – this blog post isn’t so much about getting the “right” “predictions” as it is about casting my vote. Very little about getting it “right” and very much about doing it right – watch all the films and give my best evaluations. Based on the nominees, this is what I vote: (and I’m omitting categories I either don’t care about or have no educated opinion to provide.)

Best Short Film (Animated) Nominations:

‘Day & Night’ – Teddy Newton

‘The Gruffalo’ – Jakob Schuh & Max Lang

‘Let’s Pollute’ – Geefwee Boedoe

‘The Lost Thing’ – Shaun Tan & Andrew Ruhemann

‘Madagascar, carnet de voyage’ – Bastien Dubois

My Vote: Pixar always does a fantastic job with their animated shorts. The old man playing chess with himself, Jack Jack Attack, the bouncing sheep. I love them all. And while Day & Night has a beautiful message about accepting the beauty in something we don’t understand, and its lovely throwback to traditional animation is endearing, it’s hardly the best animated short of the year. But The Gruffalo! Tender with fantastic animation – combined with the sentiments of a children’s tale, make for the best animated short. Loved it.

Best Original Screenplay Nominations:

‘Another Year’ – Mike Leigh

‘The Fighter’ – Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson

‘Inception’ – Christopher Nolan

‘The Kids Are All Right’ – Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

‘The King’s Speech’ – David Seidler

My Vote: The King’s Speech. The screenplay MAKES this film. Another Year? Yawn. The Fighter, albeit terrific, the acting was the standout. Inception? I don’t think anyone loved this movie for its script – although the plot was MORE than fantastic – the script itself was nothing more than mediocre. The Kids Are All Right could win this one, but i'm still gunning for King’s Speech. Who thought a speech impediment could be so inspiring? And Geoffrey Rush’s witty sarcasm? LOVE it.

Best Adapted Screenplay Nominations:

‘127 Hours’ – Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy

‘The Social Network’ – Aaron Sorkin

‘Toy Story 3’ – John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich

‘True Grit’ – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

‘Winter’s Bone’ – Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

My Vote: The Social Network. Done and Done. Sorkin’s unbelievably witty prose deserves this win hands down.

Best Art Direction Nominations:

‘Alice in Wonderland’ – Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I’ – Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

‘Inception’ – Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias & Doug Mowat

‘The King’s Speech’ – Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr

‘True Grit’ – Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

My Vote: Although it may not win, it will be a shame for any film to win this award except Alice in Wonderland. If nothing else, the art direction was FANTASTIC. Each scene was a masterpiece. Exceptional. Extraordinary. Visually stunning in each and every scene. IF this doesn’t win, The King’s Speech will, if nothing else but due to the extraordinary task of dressing a set for 1930’s London, including a palace. Talk about daunting. I would be happy to see either film take this category.

Best Costume Design Nominations:

‘Alice in Wonderland’ – Colleen Atwood

‘I Am Love’ – Antonella Cannarozzi

‘The King’s Speech’ – Jenny Beavan

‘The Tempest’ – Sandy Powell

‘True Grit’ – Mary Zophres

My Vote: I feel like movies about British monarchs always win this one. Although I think Alice in Wonderland is AH-MAZE-ING, I think period pieces like The King’s Speech really deserve the prize.

Best Sound Editing Nominations:

‘Inception’ – Richard King

‘Toy Story 3’ – Tom Myers & Michael Silvers

'Tron: Legacy’ – Gwendolyn Yates Whittle & Addison Teague

‘True Grit’ – Skip Lievsay & Craig Berkey

‘Unstoppable’ – Mark P. Stoeckinger

My Vote: Can Inception please win this one? I’m probably grasping at straws, but I want it to win more than visual effects. Any one of these could easily win, however, and I would be content.

Best Sound Mixing Nominations:

‘Inception’ – Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo & Ed Novick

‘The King’s Speech’ – Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen & John Midgley

‘Salt’ – Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan & William Sarokin

‘The Social Network’ – Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick & Mark Weingarten

‘True Grit’ – Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff & Peter F. Kurland

My Vote: Hmmm. I think Inception will probably be the most overlooked movie of the year and I’m surprised honestly that The Social Network made it on this list. I did not find the Sound Mixing to be extraordinary. My guess: King’s Speech. And I’ll be happy for it to win. The King’s Speech will sweep at the Oscars and I suspect this will be one of the categories it takes a broom to.

Best Foreign Language Film Nominations:

‘Biutiful’ – Mexico

‘Dogtooth’ – Greece

‘In A Better World’ – Denmark

'Incendies’ – Canada

'Outside the Law’ – Algeria

My Vote: Unfortunately, I haven’t seen ANY of these. Sad? Yes. Based on my research, however, and LOVE for Javier Bardem, I am going to vote for Biutiful. The way Dogtooth is filmed reminds me of an Orbit gum commercial, with a weird blend of sardonic humor and violence. I must say though, the line: “I hope your kids have bad influences and develop bad personalities. I hope this with all my heart,” has me intrigued. Incendies looks particularly interesting and I do hope to watch it. Outside the Law is sure to be an excellent piece, but surely the Academy won’t care all that much about a war that actually (*gasp) didn’t involve us.

Best Film Editing Nominations:

‘Black Swan’ – Andrew Weisblum

‘The Fighter’ – Pamela Martin

'The King’s Speech’ – Tariq Anwar

'127 Hours’ – Jon Harris

'The Social Network’ – Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter

My Vote: This one isn’t a particularly hard choice, with the clear frontrunner as The Social Network. I wouldn’t be disappointed to see 127 Hours win (truly a film led by its film editing) but I think The Social Network should, and will, take it. For a film to jump timelines as often as this film does, as FLAWLESSLY as this film does, it would really be a shame for any other film to take home Mr. Oscar.

Best Documentary Feature Nominations:

'Exit Through the Gift Shop'

'Gasland’

'Inside Job’

'Restrepo’

'Waste Land’

My Vote: So I desperately want Exit Through the Gift Shop to win. Clark Ludlow will know why. We love the idea of anything Banksy-related and a film that feeds his allure and intrigue? Sign.Me.Up. But it takes a while to get to him – too long. And then the film ends up not really being about him at all. disappointing. And Restrepo is probably a bit better of a choice, anyway. It has a much more profound story to tell, which expresses an accurate commentary of our time. LOVE YOU BANKSY, your hooded and voice modulated self, loved tracking your art all over LA… but… isn’t street art like so last year? (or better yet, so 1992?)

Best Animated Feature Film Nominations:

'How to Train Your Dragon’

'Illusionist’

'Toy Story 3’

My Vote: HOW ON EARTH DID DESPICABLE ME GET MISSED HERE???? I was not happy to learn this. I would hate to have the THIRD MOVIE in a trilogy win Best Animated Feature Film (albeit the best in the trilogy.) I am also surprised Tangled didn’t make it into the mix. It was fun, adventurous, and very refreshing to have Disney get back to its roots a little bit. How to Train Your Dragon was SUCH a cute movie. But I guess I’m going to have to settle for Toy Story 3 to take home the win, mostly because it would take a lot for me to vote for an animated feature not made by Disney… like the genius of Despicable Me.

Best Visual Effects Nominations:

'Alice in Wonderland’ – Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas & Sean Phillips

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I’ – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz & Nicolas Aithadi

'Hereafter’ – Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Sephan Trojanski & Joe Farrell

'Inception’ – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley & Peter Bebb

'Iron Man 2’ – Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright & Daniel Sudick

My Vote: Inception. Duh. Alice was really cool, and HP 7 – great, great, great. But Inception MUST win this category. It should win so much more, but it won’t, so this is the category it will rein supreme in. No one can argue that there is a single moment in this film where you aren’t thinking WOW – this looks so freaking awesome.

Best Original Song Nominations:

'Country Strong’ – Coming Home, Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges & Hillary Lindsey

'Tangled’ – I See the Light, Music by Alan Menken & Lyric by Glenn Slater

'127 Hours’ – If I Rise, Music by A.R. Rahman & Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong

'Toy Story 3’ – We Belong Together, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

My Vote: My vote goes to Gwyneth. Because she’s lovely. Because the song is touching. Because although I need her to steer clear of becoming a middle-aged Miley Cyrus, I do quite enjoy her singing. Alan Menkin’s I See the Light is… well… just too Alan Menkin. If I Rise is eerie and indie and cool. But probably not something I would listen to outside of watching the movie itself. Randy Newman’s We Belong Together is just precious. And I love Toy Story 3. But I like that Country Strong’s Coming Home is bigger than the movie. If I heard it on the radio, I would want to listen to it. And I think it’s the only one this year that offers that. If that doesn’t win, my best guess is If I Rise.

Best Original Score Nominations:

'How to Train Your Dragon’ – John Powell

'Inception’ – Hans Zimmer

'The King’s Speech’ – Alexandre Desplat

'127 Hours’ – A.R. Rahman

'The Social Network’ – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

My Vote: Inception. Hands down. If Hans Zimmer made a film this year, the award MUST go to him. His score just resonates with you. No one can forget the resounding “DUN. DUN.” Paired with the film’s trailer. Clearly the standout. Most people, and probably the Academy, will disagree… but I stand by my vote.

Best Cinematography Nominations:

'Black Swan’ – Matthew Libatique

'Inception’ – Wally Pfister

'The King’s Speech’ – Danny Cohen

'The Social Network’ – Jeff Cronenweth

'True Grit’ – Roger Deakins

My Vote: SO HARD! Cinematography makes a movie. Inception. Wow. Black Swan. Incredible. The King’s Speech. Amazing. I’m going to have to go with Black Swan on this one because the Cinematography just plays such an integral role in the success of the film. He uses it seamlessly to contribute to the confusion and dark nature of the film. The story really is told through the eyes of this cinematographer and Black Swan deserves this win.

Best Supporting Actor Nominations:

'The Fighter’ – Christian Bale

'Winter’s Bone’ – John Hawkes

'The Town’ – Jeremy Renner

'The Kids Are All Right” – Mark Ruffalo

'The King’s Speech’ – Geoffrey Rush

My Vote: OH.EM.GEE. If Christian Bale doesn’t win in this category, they system is BROKEN. Sure, I loved Jeremy Renner in The Town. He was great. Geoffrey Rush, does he EVER deliver a poor performance? And he was positively brilliant in The King’s Speech. Very witty and clever in his role. I’ve heard a lot of buzz about Andrew Garfield being snubbed on the Oscar nod. Sure, he was good, too. And perhaps he deserved a nomination. But NO ONE deserves the win half as much as Mr. Bale. I love him in Batman. I love him in the Machinist. Heck, I even love him in The Newsies. But his portrayal of Dicky Ecklund in The Fighter is UNREAL. I remember watching him in the Machinist and seeing him transform into this emaciated ghost of a man, but in The Fighter, he BECOMES Dicky Ecklund. He’s funny albeit depressing and when he finally chooses to conquer his demons and face his mistakes, I find myself cheering him on. At the end of the movie you see the real Dicky for a few moments talking to the camera about his crack addiction and it really is unreal how Bale became this person. LOVED HIM.

Best Supporting Actress Nominations:

'The Fighter’ – Amy Adams

'The King’s Speech’ – Helena Bonham Carter

'The Fighter’ – Melissa Leo

'True Grit’ – Hailee Steinfeld

'Animal Kingdom’ – Jacki Weaver

My Vote: This is a tough one for me just because while I actually really enjoyed all of their performances, none of them were CRAZY awesome. I think I would have to vote for Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit just for the mere fact that I was surprised by my adoration of her. She is clever and tough and I left the theater impressed by her. I attribute much of her success to the actual writers of the film – what witty banter they wrote for her! But she delivers it flawlessly and she gave a portrayal worth remembering. Sorry Amy Adams – just because you can go from being an animated princess to trailer trash who uses the f-bomb every other word – while believable, frankly, I just didn’t like you. I would be happy to see Helena Bonham Carter win anything because she is brilliant, always. But Melissa Leo might get the win – and she pulls off an insane drug-addicted, trailer park, manipulative mother better than the ones back home.

Best Actor Nominations:

'Biutiful’ – Javier Bardem

'True Grit’ – Jeff Bridges

'The Social Network’ – Jesse Eisenberg

'The King’s Speech’ – Colin Firth

'127 Hours’ – James Franco

My Vote: My hope against hope is that Colin Firth will take this golden statue for his role in The King’s Speech. While I think James Franco’s performance is OUTSTANDING (let’s face it, cutting your own arm off trumps a speech impediment any day) I think Colin Firth’s inspirational and moving performance as King George VI, combined with the beauty of the film, will win this award. Besides, I’ve been rooting for him since he played Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy in BBC’s Pride and Prejudice… Mr. Darcy deserves an Oscar.

Best Actress Nominations:

'The Kids Are All Right’ – Annette Bening

'Rabbit Hole’ – Nicole Kidman

'Winter’s Bone’ – Jennifer Lawrence

'Black Swan’ – Natalie Portman

'Blue Valentine’ – Michelle Williams

My Vote: If Natalie Portman doesn’t win this category, I really will be sad. I know the others were brilliant in their own right but I have to say her performance in Black Swan was riveting, chilling, and completely off-the-charts fantastic. I felt confused with her, powerful with her, frustrated with her. She made this deeply dark film fantastic. Now Academy – if you vote for your token faves, Nicole and Annette, I’ll beat you. I’m ready for Natalie to become the new Oscar favorite – because I think she’s lovely and brilliant and willing to really stretch herself. I’m bored with Nicole. I’m bored with Annette. Who cares about Jennifer Lawrence? And Blue Valentine only deserves a win for the most overly-hyped movie of the year.

Best Director Nominations:

'Black Swan’ – Darren Aronofsky

'The Fighter’ – David O. Russell

'The King’s Speech’ – Tim Hooper

'The Social Network’ – David Fincher

'True Grit’ – Joel & Ethan Coen

My Vote: This category is a little tricky. I’m disappointed that Chris Nolan didn’t get an Oscar nod. He awes and inspires me. And I would give him this category for basically any movie he’s ever done – and Inception really went above and beyond. I’m tired of cinematic geniuses being overlooked. I worry that Nolan will be our generation’s Alfred Hitchcock. *Sigh. But I digress. I’m ruling out True Grit, mostly because although I enjoy their films, I’m tired of the Coen Brothers taking everything. Although I feel each of the other movies would be good candidates, I hope that David Russell will take home the win. He evoked such resounding performances from each and every character in the film… he deserves it.

Best Picture Nominations:

‘Black Swan’

'The Fighter’

'Inception’

'The Kids Are All Right’

'The King’s Speech’

'127 Hours’

'The Social Network’

'Toy Story 3’

'True Grit’

'Winter’s Bone’

My Vote: Probably the toughest category, although c’mon, Academy. Stop putting token movies in the category. I loved Toy Story 3. But Best Picture of the whole year? Please. I was BLOWN AWAY by Black Swan. Natalie Portman is a goddess and her inner darkness just had me jumpy and confused. Really a masterpiece. The King’s Speech – talk about taking a droll topic and making it an exceptional work of art. Inception? Brilliant – Christopher Nolan never fails me. The Fighter and 127 Hours were equally riveting. Even Winter’s Bone has its good points, despite being about such a horrible topic that I’d really rather not watch an entire film devoted to. However, my vote goes to The Social Network – not because I feel like it is really the best picture made this last year, but because it tells the story of our generation. If nothing else, it’s a defining film, and to truly win Best Picture I feel you have to achieve a proper commentary on our times. The Social Network does this and more with a shining cast and witty script. If this one doesn't take it home, it will be The King's Speech.

Now go print off a ballot - and let me know what you think! I'd love to hear your predictions and thoughts! love to you all.